Ramblings about cycling, politics, and life.

Why the orange guy is the right choice

No witty or funny title, just straight to the point – like this post will be. This election has brought unprecedented levels of empty rhetoric and irrelevant bullshit to public discourse. It’s an age-old propaganda strategy called “muddying the water”. Spam so much bullshit into public discussion that people either no longer know or no longer care what is actually relevant and what is actually true. Allow me to briefly cut through it all, because there are some major issues we face in this election that are at the heart of the more often talked about issues, and none of them are getting airtime. Once you recognize these root issues and weigh out how the candidates will actually affect them (not how they say they’ll affect them), Trump becomes the obvious choice of the person capable of critical thinking. Here’s why…

#1.

It’s becoming increasingly obvious to me that this election is likely to be a referendum on free speech. It is without a doubt the most critical issue facing Americans in this election.What? Most critical issue, yet you haven’t heard it mentioned at a debate or obsessed over on a cable news talk show? That’s because the corporate owned media propaganda machine (notice I didn’t say “liberal” or “conservative” – they’re all the same) wants you to stay blind to this one. Within only the past several years, and especially with the emergence of “black lives matter” and the idea of “safe spaces” there has a been a veiled, but very concerted attack on free speech in this country. This country that only a few, short years ago valued this right above all others is rapidly transforming into a place where speaking your mind is very dangerous. Make no mistake, this is not a left and right issue. Both sides of the aisle do it, they simply have different ideas of what free speech they want to suppress. The right wants to remove your ability to criticize authority (see: anything negative about police, military, the flag, patriotism, ‘Merika, etc.) and the left wants to remove your ability to criticize… pretty much everything else (anything negative about blacks, Muslims, feminists, liberal leaders, or, if you’re white and male, nearly anything that comes out of your mouth). As they advance this agenda together, we’re rapidly losing our ability to do or say anything other than simply heading off to work every day with our heads down and mouths shut to be a good, corporate money making drones – exactly what our wealthy masters want.Liberals never miss a chance to call Trump Hitler and claim he’ll bring fascism to American, but what could be more fascist than them using cries of “racism!” and “hate speech!” to shut down any opinion that disagrees with their own? The First Amendment doesn’t exist to protect statements that people enjoy hearing or the act of saluting the flag. It exists to protect the triggering, controversial, nasty speech on the margins of society – because those people deserve to voice their opinions too, whether you like it and agree with it or not. It exists to protect those that want to sit out the national anthem, yell “fuck the police”, and shit on the flag before burning it. It exists to protect people that want to say all lives matter, that black people commit the vast majority of violent crime, and that feminists are just angry ugly girls. Attempts from both sides to suppress this free speech are anathema to everything America is supposed to stand for. And, in an ultimate irony, these suppression efforts are done in the name of FREEDOM!!!! Because no one can argue against FREEDOM!!!! Freedom for who? “Freedom” for the people the speech offends. I’m sorry, but free speech is protected by the First Amendment. There is nothing in the Bill of Rights that guarantees you a right to not be offended.

So, on this issue, why Trump? Whether intentional or not, Trump is returning free speech to America. All those “deplorables”? It’s their speech the First Amendment is protecting. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to agree with it. They have a RIGHT to say it. With Trump in the public eye saying controversial and outrageous things on almost a daily basis, people are again feeling comfortable speaking their minds publicly as well – as they should. He has changed national discourse and returned marginalized voices that had been beaten down by the speech suppression machine. He has fueled the rise of free speech advocates like Milo Yiannopoulos. His public antics and his supporters’ awakening has been the first real challenge to speech suppression since its inception. Of course, it has resulted in the escalation of speech suppression rhetoric as well. Cries of “racism!” and “bigot!” are at all time highs. Think illegals don’t belong here? You’re a racist. Think we shouldn’t import terrorists? You’re a bigot. Think the disproved gender-based wage gap is… disproved? You’re a sexist. But people aren’t having it anymore. They’re fighting back. And if we’re being honest, it’s because Trump set the ball in motion. Regardless of what Trump’s policy may be in this area, his own disregard for political correctness sends the message to the nation at large that it’s once again acceptable to speak your mind. The stuff coming out might not be pretty and it might trigger your sensitive self, but that’s exactly the type of stuff we need to ensure is always free to be said.

As in all other cases, Hillary will provide us more of the same – in this case: speech suppression. Her campaign’s and supporters’ constant cries of racism and sexism against statements and actions that are not remotely either is easy proof of this. The DNC went to extraordinary lengths to ensure Bernie supporters were not heard at the convention or the voting booth, and that dissenters were hidden away behind a massive wall. Voting is the very pinnacle of free speech. The DNC ran a biased, rigged election and did everything in their power to making voting difficult. This is not a group of people who value your speech rights. As much as the GOP hated Trump, they ran a fair election even knowing it would likely result in him being the nominee.

A vote for Hillary is a vote for more speech policing, more election rigging, and more voter suppression. Whether you agree with what he’s saying or not, a vote for Trump is a vote for you to be able to continue to say what you want.

#2.

American voters like to disavow any responsibility for the results of their government’s foreign policy actions. In reality, you are directly responsible for the results of the wars and violence perpetrated in your name, by your elected government. Americans have never showed sympathy for citizens of foreign nations with violent governments, be it WWII Germany and Japan or Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. The reality they fail to recognize is that the rest of the world views them with equally little sympathy. When (not “if” or “should”) America falls from its premier world power status, our foreign policy chickens will come home to roost in a way far beyond anything we have seen. We will be held to our own standards. Vote carefully.

There are lots of claims being spammed out about Trump on foreign policy. One of my favorites is the paradox of him being both an agent of the Russian government and a tyrant hell-bent on starting a war with Russia. Surely Putin’s mind control drugs are making Trump want to go to war with Russia. Makes perfect sense… if you’re braindead. Most of the claims revolve around him being a violent, unpredictable nut that’ll nuke the world into the stone age. Cutting through the bullshit, the strong statements Trump has made are nearly all in regard to ISIS. Even though both Clinton and Trump have called for more war, it’s important to distinguish war with who and for what. Trump’s calls for war are specifically aimed at what he sees as a current, direct threat to US security: ISIS. He repeatedly calls for escalated war to eradicate ISIS – which, seemingly forgotten by everyone, was the exact same thing anti-war Bernie Sanders called for. No one called Sanders a warmonger or trigger happy. On nearly the opposite end of the spectrum, Clinton’s foreign policy is a continuation of Reagan, Bush, other Clinton, Bush Jr., and Obama… more intervention, more illegal attacks on sovereign states, more imperialist wars, and the very real possibility of a war with Russia. As recently as the last debate Clinton has called for more illegal bombing in Syria. She has publicly supported a no-fly zone in Syria, which everyone with a brain recognizes as a slap in the face to Russia and a setup for an exchange of fire between our countries that would surely start a war. She has stayed silent about Obama’s increase of troops in Iraq (I thought liberals claim he ended that war?). A vote for Clinton is a vote for more of this, and their blood will be on your hands.

Clinton and her supporters repeatedly tout her support of the Iran treaty as evidence of her not being a warmonger. Unfortunately, this is merely nice window dressing on a career littered with warmongering and the blood of hundreds of thousands (possibly millions, depending on who you go to for numbers) of innocents. In reality, it’s a way to look diplomatic, while also securing an easy excuse to go to war with Iran in the not-so-distant future (did everyone so quickly forget those weapons inspections in Iraq that justified attack after attack on them for the past 20 years?). Clinton’s wars created ISIS. They fuel terrorism. They breed terrorists. After all, that’s the whole point: eternal war. It keeps your tax dollars lining the pockets of her offense contractor donors and friends, lives of those innocents on the receiving end of the bombs be damned.

#3.

If you want to know what candidate will be best for you, the lower class (middle class doesn’t even exist anymore) voter, just follow the money. If the candidate is liked and supported by big money, they aren’t your friend. It’s become even more obvious in the last few weeks that the establishment really does hate Trump. From the beginning I questioned whether Trump was a real candidate (and still sometimes do) or just a plant to force people to Clinton. Whether he is or isn’t a legit candidate, one thing is certain: he genuinely is hated by the establishment and nearly every power figure and entity in the country and even Western world. The media are running a concerted effort to destroy him in these final days, as Clinton fails to rocket ahead as the master plan must have stated she would. The New York Times was even desperate enough to illegally publish some of his tax returns today. Lies about him and his statements taken out of context are circulated 24/7. Republicans and conservatives are running to endorse Clinton in droves. Wall St. loves her enough to pay her thousands of dollars a minute for a speech. Despotic foreign governments have bankrolled both her campaign and her money laundering foundation. Clinton’s backers are a who’s who of the ruling class from across the planet. That alone should tell you were her loyalties lie. Even if items #1 and #2 don’t matter enough to you, the very fact that Trump is despised by the powers that be should at least tell you that, if nothing else, he’s closer to truly being on your side than Clinton will ever be. Even if he is just a plant, stick it to them harder and elect him anyway.

Of course, someone is going to point out that I didn’t mention the third party candidates. There’s good reason for that. They both suck.

Johnson’s “free market” horse shit is the fantasy of the wealthy, redneck guys in high school (or their mom’s basements), and the economically clueless. You would have to be an absolute fool or very rich to even consider voting for him. Put that fedora away, pick up a history book, and grow up from that libertarian non-sense.

Then there’s Stein… oh Stein. Always there to catch a photo-op vandalizing something or trespassing, never around to accomplish anything useful. She’d be an utter failure on item #1, likely bringing on even more sensitivity and “safe space” garbage. I just can’t bring myself to like either of those fools. HOWEVER… big however… if you are not in a swing state and your vote doesn’t really matter anyway, please vote third party to at least help legitimize third parties and move us closer to the end of this two party joke.